Tuesday, April 25, 2017
By Joe Gorman
LIBERTY
Video
Police Chief Richard Tisone and Detective Sergeant Ray Buhala discuss the arrest of Sean Clemens, 33, in the homicide early today of Jane Larue Brown.
Audio Clip
Excerpts from Liberty callers to the Trumbull County 911 center about a disturbance that turned out to be a homicide on Church Hill-Hubbard Road.
A suspect in an early Monday homicide on Church Hill-Hubbard Road was taken into custody after he returned to the scene of the crime.
Sean M. Clemens, 30, was arrested after he returned to his home, which was cordoned off with crime-scene tape, more than six hours after police found the body of his neighbor Jane Larue Brown, 84, across the street. Neighbors and police said Brown was a well-known and well-liked resident of the township.
Clemens and a man who was in his truck when he returned to his house were taken into custody for questioning. The other man was released, but Clemens was taken to the Trumbull County jail on a charge of aggravated murder.
Neighbors mourned the death of Brown, who they said was an avid walker, golfer and gardener. They said she kept herself busy and often could be seen either walking or doing something in her yard.
“We were all just hanging out yesterday,” said Shirley Klink, one of her neighbors who watched as agents from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation searched Brown’s home for evidence. They were searching Clemens’ home later in the afternoon.
Township Police Chief Richard Tisone said officers were called to an area around East Drive about 5:45 a.m. for a report of gunfire, and when they arrived, they found a car on fire.
Officers ran the plate on the car and it came back to Brown’s address, Tisone said. Officers went there and found signs that Brown’s home had been forcibly entered. They found Brown’s body and then called for detectives and crime-scene personnel. Members of the Trumbull County Homicide Task Force assisted township police and BCI.
Tisone would not say how Brown died, nor would he give any type of motive. He said Clemens was “confronted with evidence” by investigators during an interview that lasted more than two hours before he was taken into custody.
The man who was taken into custody with Clemens and later released said Clemens was his foreman on a construction job and Clemens had been acting strangely since Clemens had picked him up early in the morning for work.
Seeming visibly dazed as he talked to a group of reporters in the parking lot of the police station, the man said Clemens appeared to be drunk and talked about killing someone, but he added that Clemens often talked that way and he thought nothing of it.
“He was saying a lot of [expletive], but I thought he was blowing it out of proportion,” the man said.
The man said he was horrified to learn that the man he was riding to work with is accused of killing someone. He said he is very sorry for the family of the victim and he wants them to know that.
Neighbors said Brown was an active volunteer who decorated the graves of veterans for patriotic holidays, among other things. Despite her age, she would mow her lawn and took care of several lawn projects at her home.
“She kept herself very active,” said another neighbor, Carmen Frazier.
Another neighbor, Sean Cooper, said Brown had a sort of philosophy for keeping busy.
“She always said she could find something to do every day, even if it was with her house,” Cooper said.
Frazier and Klink said they had lived on the street for several years and there has never been any serious trouble.
“We watch out for each other,” Frazier said.
Tisone said police found evidence that led to Clemens’ being a suspect, but he would not say if that evidence was found at Brown’s home or what the evidence was. A mug shot of Clemens distributed by police showed that he had some scratches on his face. Tisone said he was not sure if those scratches came from a struggle with Brown.
Tisone and Liberty Detective Sgt. Ray Buhala also said they have no idea why Clemens decided to come back to his home several hours after the homicide took place. Clemens was already a suspect when he returned to the home.
“I can only speculate,” Buhala said.
Klink said she feels terrible about what happened to her neighbor. She said she remembered saying goodbye to Brown on Sunday.
“She saw me and she waved goodbye,” Klink said. “That’s how I’ll remember her.”